I want to say he's not dirty. The Gronk hit was what people have to do with Gronk because you can't tackle the guy high. He NEVER touched Welker, who was just dodging him when the knee went. I didn't like the Brady hit much, but again, he was just trying to tackle the guy. However, the jack@$s opens his mouth about how much he doesn't like us and then I say.. lets have him knee-capped. His taking Gronk out cost us the Superbowl for sure.

If this had happened to Graham the TE of the Saints there would be no doubt that Vilma would have put a personal bounty out on Pollard! He is a cheapshot artist and thats ok but if you live by the sword you must also expect to die by the sword.

He didn't try to hurt Gronk or even touch Welker. The Brady hit was careless, that's what's scary about QB's in this league, they are vulnerable to late hits to the knee and ending a teams season in the first week. That said Pollard is a jerk, he brags about these guys getting injured and talks smack about the Patriots all the time. Another guy who knows that he wouldn't ever cut it on this team and is jealous of their continued success.

I want to say he's not dirty. The Gronk hit was what people have to do with Gronk because you can't tackle the guy high. He NEVER touched Welker, who was just dodging him when the knee went. I didn't like the Brady hit much, but again, he was just trying to tackle the guy. However, the jack@$s opens his mouth about how much he doesn't like us and then I say.. lets have him knee-capped. His taking Gronk out cost us the Superbowl for sure.Posted by Davedsone

+1. Tough to swalllow the injuries to Brady and Gronk.

The fact that BP talks $hit about it makes him look like a thug.

Anyone got any links to what has been said? Getting fired up for the season.

If you watch the highlights of the AFC championship game, not exactly sure when in the game but at one point Pollard hits Gronk and tries to lay on his ankle. Gronk got away from it that time the other time was not as lucky. I think it was completly intentional by Pollard on the Brady and Gronk injuries...he's a dirty player he didn't apologize following Brady injury and the claims are he celebrated the hit. If you watch Kimo Von Oelhoffen take out Palmer's knee the man looks like he's devastated with what he's just done after the play, that's a man who made the hit accidentally. Please don't give a scum bag like Pollard the benefit of the doubt!

I'm not giving him the benefit of the doubt on the Brady hit, that was dirty.

The Welker injury would have happened in wide open field. He didn't try to go low or do anything dirty, he just happened to be the closest defender.

Gronk is 6'6", 265 lbs, strong, fast, and knows how to use leverage. That injury, to me, is more about players in the NFL in general having very poor fundamentals. Few people know how to actually hit, wrap, drive and tackle. His intention, on that play, seemed to me to be to wrap of his knees, and let his body trip up Gronk's feet. Embarrassingly poor fundamentals? Yes. But dirty? I don't think so.

Pollard is a marginal NFL player who only gets attention for the people he's hurt. When he retires there will be no mention of it on the crawl, he won't get celebrated anywhere, and he'll never sniff the HOF unless he pays admission. Good for him, he's hardly relevant now, as a player, he'll be totally irrelevant in a few short years. What's he been on? 4 teams in 4 seasons? The guy is just as pitiful as Meriweather. That's how I'm ok with it, it works for me. The guy's a JAG who grabs any attention he can for hurting people. THe Universe tends to take care of those things. Or, Karma, if you prefer.

In Response to Re: Bernard Pollard -what is to be done with dirty player : And then the Patriots are no better than Bernard Pollard...Posted by CaptainZdeno33

I think, in this case, they are still better than Pollard. In one of my former careers this would be called a pre-emptive strike. There is no sense, what so ever, to allow him on the same field with the Pats just so he can finally do the job right and end someone elses career. BTW you ever see Darryl Stingley play?

In Response to Re: Bernard Pollard -what is to be done with dirty player : I think, in this case, they are still better than Pollard. In one of my former careers this would be called a pre-emptive strike. There is no sense, what so ever, to allow him on the same field with the Pats just so he can finally do the job right and end someone elses career. BTW you ever see Darryl Stingley play? Posted by rtuinila

I was just being sarcastic with that post but I disagree. None of his hits were an attempt to injure. The Brady hit was cheap because he hit him so low but its an instictive move, I don't see any malicious intent there regardless of what he spouts off about afterwards. The Welker and Gronk plays he was just trying to make a tackle. The injuries were a fluke and unfortunate but any player in that position probably wouldn't have changed the result.

The for-real solution is to take draft choices away from every team that clearly injures or endangers another team's player, depending on how critical the injured player has been lately to that team. Give the penalized draft choices to the injured team. Make these calls on Monday or Tuesday after the game.

Split-second soccer decisions where a grown man whimpers and cries on the ground clutching his knee, then gets up seconds later as if nothing had happened, are inherently stupid to watch.

"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." In a league where injuries always cost victories, coaches simply don't want to play dirty players any more than they want to play linemen that flinch or jump offside too much, or cornerbacks that get caught holding too many times.

Until the NFL does the right thing, almost all coaches will continue to load up on dirty players. Rodney Harrison didn't boast about his hits and fines as did some players, but he did call the fines a normal business expense. I wonder if the fines can be claimed as an IRS business deduction?

I'm a cynic and I don't expect the NFL to do the right thing. Some swinging NFL genius will decide that the Bernard Pollards of the league are good for ratings, because the NFL is really the Hunger Games in disguise. Underclass young men with touching stories are all smashed into a pulp in front of our eyes, except for a lucky few who get that big payday to the good life, like Junior Seau.

Bernard Pollard plays the game in an All-out effort to injury people...And if he can make a tackle, a sack, or any play in the process=Even better.

James Harrison plays the game in an All-out manner to make as many Sacks, Tackles, and stops on the ball-carrier as quickly and as powerfully as he can...And if he gets to instill a sense of second-thinking and fear into the ball-carrier with a hit that would make an elephant buckle=Even better.

Brady hit- Dirty. Even before the "re-emphasis" on QBs, there was still a long-standing rule on direct hits on QBs from the knees on down. Plain as day. Good block, he's on the ground, coiled almost full body lunge directly towards his knees and no higher.

Welker- Not even dirty in the slightest. Open-field. Talk after, and EVEN before the game about terrible turf conditions at Gillete exactly at that time. NE had secured a postseason birth already, and there was absolutely zero need for WW to be tasked with being killed with slowly falling dump off passes in the muck of meaningless late season game @ Gillete.

Gronk- Dirty as it comes... Did ya even HEAR Bernard's NFL AFCG on-field mic-up recently?!? Good grief! He's talking about taking "Gronk's #" "Out" before he does...SEVERAL times in fact. Than afterwards, he's bragging about and saying, "I told ya so" and the like a few more times. And there's a reason WHY NFL defenders don't do the "drop-and-lay" hit technique- #1. Because you're gonna have a higher percentage to make the stop when doing a standard full-forced mid-ranged torso/higher stomach/lower chest/waist to uppermost thighs- hit followed by an immediate wrap up. And #2. You're gonna have a lesser chance of EVERY-thing ya want- The better stop percentage, the better percentage on a well-placed hit that might cause a fumble, on and on vs Pollard's way. The only thing that Pollard's way is better at offering is=Giving an Injury to the ball-carrier. That's it. Pointlessly high weak hit/wrap up, and then body swing onto Gronk's lower back legs=Dvmb if not for this purpose alone. Even after, Pollard's still tugging and twisting Gronk's legs on the ground, and 1 leg as he gets up (both of these and based on all the data, can-NOT be attributed to making sure Gronk didn't get as much ideal forward progress in his YAC in that situation). VERY dirty.